http://www.customercommunities.com.au/communities/Newsletter.asp?issue_id=1605&t=2520973

Your action needed to help protect our vulnerable sharks
Built for speed, mako sharks are highly migratory open ocean animals. Sometimes called the 'cheetah of the seas', these sleek, silver sharks can reach speeds of up to 72 km/h, making them the fastest shark on Earth.

But even this might not be enough to save them from the relentless decline of sharks throughout our oceans. Sharks, including makos, are threatened by overfishing, shark finning, illegal trade, habitat degradation and bycatch.

The Australian Government is considering protecting these species but a small, yet vocal minority are opposing it. We need to show the government they are doing the right thing.

Our blue planet urgently needs you to support action to protect the mako shark.



[Shortfin makos are listed as vulnerable to extinction_image courtesy of marinethemes]

The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), an international body, has listed the shortfin mako, longfin mako and porbeagle as species requiring urgent international conservation action.

As a signatory to the CMS, Australia is duty bound to protect these sharks under our Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Listing these shark species would protect them from the threats they face, including fishing.

The international community has spoken and now our voice is needed.

A vocal group of opponents is protesting against the protection of these sharks. Certain fishing clubs and sports anglers are up in arms about the listing of these sharks, despite the fact that they will still be able to practise catch and release fishing of these vulnerable species under the law.

They are pressuring Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett MP to back down on his commitment.

The Minister and his advisors need to hear from us, the advocates for healthy oceans, urging him not to bend to pressure.

Please click below to send your letter of support to the government.

[sign the petition]
The cheetah of the sea needs your voice today to help give these magnificent sharks the protection they deserve. The Federal Government is due to announce their decision on 29 January 2010, but they need your encouragement.

Please act today.

It sounds like a good idea:

Quote:


What do you think?

Do you have more info on their status in the southern hemisphere?

Never mind. It doesn't really matter anyway.

freediver wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2010 at 5:45pm:


Its a good thing that there arent a few isolated colonies of kangaroos that are endangered in other countries,, his first SPA success would be a nightmare for him.

All roos would be endangered and this country over run with them

Common sense isnt really all that common

freediver wrote on Jan 24^th, 2010 at 8:50am:


Oh really? How about this then from the ICUN itself. It would appear they are not even endargered in the Northern Pacific!

http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/39341/0

In the eastern north Pacific, tagging studies have been carried out by the California Department of Fish and Game (Anon. 2001), and more recently by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (Holts and Kohin 2003, Holts et al. 2004). Using a consistent sample size of 28 sets of 200 hooks during each of eight years (1994–1997, 2000–2003), CPUE data showed a slight decline (Holts et al. (2004); y = -0.0696x + 1.0982, R2 = 0.5107). However, it does not appear to be sufficient to warrant serious concern about the population. The large horizontal (primarily north-south along the coastline, but with some inshore-offshore movements) (Holts et al. 2004) and vertical (up to ~500 m) (Holts and Kohin 2003, Sepulveda et al. 2004) movements of Shortfin Makos, a behaviour that could make them more or less available to the gear spatially but not necessarily indicating a population decline. Likewise, for males and females, there appeared to be a slight increase in the average size caught over the same eight years (y = 1.8368x + 112.38, R2 = 0.3751). This, combined with the CPUE changes would suggest that the biomass indices had not changed. The variability among years in CPUE can also be attributed to inter-annual oceanographic and climate changes, especially water temperature (http://www.pcouncil.org/hms/hmsback.html). Thus, although there are no precise or accurate population estimates, it appears that the population of shortfin makos in the eastern North Pacific has been relatively stable. (Taylor and Holts 2001, PFMC 2003).